


Study of Celestial False-Bodies In Context of Eastern Geographic Liminality

by unheroics



Category: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar
Genre: Academic Enemies to Lovers, Epistolary, F/F, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-14 17:16:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13594689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unheroics/pseuds/unheroics
Summary: Madam,I am writing to younoton behalf of any scientific body or institution but rather as an individual and fellow academic and researcher which purportedly you are. It is with regards to the information, a term I use with great trepidation, you have included in your article published on the hallowed pages of Benthic Scientific Review and the theory of bat migration contained therein.





	Study of Celestial False-Bodies In Context of Eastern Geographic Liminality

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Snickfic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snickfic/gifts).



To:  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist Who Authored the Recently Published Article ‘Study of Celestial False-Bodies In Context of Eastern Geographic Liminality’  
Faculty of Subterranean False-Astronomy  
Benthic College

Madam,

I am writing to you not on behalf of any scientific body or institution but rather as an individual and fellow academic and researcher which purportedly you are. It is with regards to the information, a term I use with great trepidation, you have included in your article published on the hallowed pages of _Benthic Scientific Review_ (which I read as a curiosity you understand, as certainly its academic merits are negligible not unlike its college of origin) and the theory of bat migration contained therein.

It may have escaped your attention and/or tutelage seeing as you are not in fact a chiropterologist, but patterns of movement amongst bats and related fauna (most limited to the taxonomy of the family chiroptera as adopted by non-surface bodies of zoology, pioneered by Summerset College in a largely successful attempt to contain differing strata of biological diversity of the Neath) are rather independent of human migration and respond more to the axiology of weather/food supply. The human populace of the Neath is simply put far too small to have a discernible effect on bat patterns of behaviour.

Furthermore and it is a fact of which I would have expected any purported researcher to be aware, the distances between habitable isles of the Unterzee east of Polythreme are so large that it is highly unlikely that bat activity could be observed there. In uncomplicated terms there is a scarcity of food and resonant geographical landmarks that would allow a near-blind species to travel.

Also bats are not migratory in the way you suggest.

Your misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of the subject lead me to question the veracity of the rest of the article in question. As a woman in the academic field your credibility reflects on us all; I strongly advise publishing a revised version and am available to offer critique & advice.

Kindest of regards,  
A Weary Chiroprerochronologist

 

To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist  
Department of Xenobiology And Unterzee Studies  
Summerset College

My deepest and most sincere apologies for such a late reply to your thoughtful correspondence: I have been travelling to then from Mangrove College where I have attended the seasonal conference. As an esteemed scholar in your field I am sure you have also received an invitation to present but simply could not spare the time?

In any case I am rather perplexed as to the implications of your letter ie. that the observable presence of bats in Irem was a misunderstanding/fabrication on my part. I assure you that it was not. Of course my area of study concerns the noncelestial bodies upon the roof of the Neath and not the fauna thereof, and my background is in mathematics and astronomy, and by no means am I an expert in biology: but I must stress that unlike the animal in question I am not blind and can very well tell a bat from another creature.

As a fellow woman AND researcher you should know that success in any scientific field for us is largely engendered by above-expectations performance. I put excessive amounts of effort into ascertaining that my work ethic and credibility CANNOT be questioned, and so it borders on insult that you would insinuate otherwise.

Finally despite your crude assertions about my alma mater it is obliquely kind of you to have done such a close reading of my article to have picked out a single sentence out of an entire text upon which to focus your ire, for which I suppose I should thank you.

As I am confident in my research & work I see NO need for a revision of the article.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with further questions.

Regards,  
“The Narcoleptic Astrometrist”

 

To:  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist  
Faculty of Subterranean False-Astronomy  
Benthic College

Madam I must say that the glibness with which you have approached my freely offered critique does you no credit. In fact & for your information I have not received an invitation to present at Mangrove College & am thankful for it since as an institution (a term I use with heavy sarcasm) it is barely a step above a honey den peddling opium & worse to people whose academic careers consist of delirious fever dreams put tenuously to paper.

Since you have dismissed my reasoned and (clearly unnecessarily) polite refutation of your false data, allow me to be blunt: it is not possible for you to have witnessed bats in Irem. I would be willing to entertain the idea of roses sent roofwards on warm wind currents as that is more likely than bats in Irem. The idea is simply ludicrous and facetiously incorrect.

Lastly it has become clear to me that the so-called academics populating the halls of Benthic College hardly deserve the name and it shames me to share a profession with a woman so thoroughly dismissive and uncouth.

The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

 

 _(pen pressed to paper with such force that it has left groves filled with contemptuously black ink: a fury of letters compressed so tightly they shrivel the very pages to which they were forced, as if at swordspoint)_  
To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist  
Department of Cryptozoology And Unterzee Studies  
Summerset College

Madam are you calling me a liar.

 

 _(with matching fury)_  
To:  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist  
Faculty of Subterranean False-Astronomy  
Benthic College

As a chiropterologist it is not fancy or spite which drives me but rather the passionate pursuit of fair and accurate representation of bats in scientific literature.

I am in fact calling you a liar and would meet you at the attached address, Ladybones Rd, to enumerate in depth all the manner of ways in which you are wrong.

 

 _(tentatively, like a lone filament of jellyfish arms reaching out of the comforting bulbous umbrella of its body)_  
To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

Despite our differences I do believe we can agree that the Events which Transpired would be best never spoken of again.

Unless of course you would care to explain your passions further as I do not believe your theory of illusory bat sightings vis a vis the toxic/hallucinogenic properties of eastern Unterzee waters to be particularly convincing.

Yours,  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist

 

To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

found hat; believe it to be yrs. grows gills on occasion & whispers sweet nothings in alien tongues. if care to retrieve it: free mon. between lectures

 

 _(with half-hearted affection)_  
To:  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist

My dear you severely overestimate my willingness to set foot in any building adjacent to the Benthic College but of course I suppose I will have to compromise a number of moral principles as the hat in question is one I dearly love and would so hate to lose it. Please do not feed it mushrooms in the interim.

Last night I began to sift through the frankly excessive number of publications you have given me wrt Irem’s propensity for subversion of observable phenomena independent of witnesses’ mental faculties — lovely dig at my intellect, do not think I remain oblivious to your barbs — and what begins to emerge as a pattern are the frequent mentions of an entity (?) referred to as Salt. It would appear that it/he/she (sources indicate either a consciousness or near sentience/sapience that implies a degree of personhood above that of other observed Unterzee wildlife) may be metaphorical or allegorical in nature. A manifest power if you will. I have expanded my net of research to encompass texts more esoteric in nature (am sure a Benthic scholar of your intelligence and grit would approve and find them as fascinating as I find them laughable) and Salt indeed seems to be a common theme of subnautical lore along with two other entities that possess similar but more contained influence.

More importantly I have found references to Salt vis a vis the purported appearance of a white zee-bat which one would assume is not a bat but rather a heretofore uncategorised species which may give some credence to your otherwise absurd assertions about bats in Irem. MAY.

Yours,  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

 

To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

My dear,

Thank you for your delightful visit: it certainly has taken my mind off the bureaucratic drudgery of everyday academic life though of course now I cannot seem to find it in myself to focus as Aphrodite has filled me with sweet longing etcaetera. I do so miss the secret place where your wrists meet the forearm. & so forth.

It does not surprise me that a Summerset scholar would be unfamiliar with Salt (or its accompanying entities Storm and Stone) as your kind do tend to prefer confinement to scientific exploration in the field. Naturally because of this Benthic archaeology is vastly superior amongst other subjects. The entities which so mystify you are indeed manifest powers of some nature unknown to human observers: other than variedly superstitious zailors they are more commonly acknowledged by our gently undulating friends the Rubbery Men. I have seen evidence of a kind of primitive forms of worship across the Elder Continent esp. Varchas though the preoccupation with mirrors detracts from in-depth scientific study in my area (also my dept currently lacks the funds that the Mayor has redistributed to Infernal Rarefactions.) In any case I believe a connection to the Mountain may be argued and/or the Avid Horizon though how they in turn relate to zee bats and bat-related phenomena is anyone’s guess.

I suppose there is merit in your idea that the bat I have witnessed in Irem was in fact Salt’s messenger, though at present I do not recall whether it was white. If memory serves it was initially observed by one of the zailors serving aboard the ship upon which I had travelled to pursue my research. I did however see the bat in question.

Light in Irem is to be frank with you too untrustworthy. It might have been white. If you have access to Admiralty staff there might be mention of the animal in voyage reports; I would verify myself but alas have been banned from Admiralty offices in Fallen London following an unfortunate incident involving a Snuffer, the Bishop of St Fiacre’s and one of those pesky little urchins who roam the rooftops. Little devils indeed!

Thinking of you,  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist

 

To:  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist

My connections to the Admiralty are tenuous at best but I have procured an invitation to the Wolfstack office and have perused the reports dating back to your research expedition to the Eastern ports. No mention is made of any bat at all. I must say it disappoints me to know that either your vision of it was falsified by the illusory ambience of Irem (how much Darkdrop coffee have you had at the time?) or that no one thought to record such an obviously miraculous sighting which makes me despair for the intellectual faculties of zailors.

My Admiralty guide has also offered to me a number of what I believe she thought to be clues as though I am some kind of harebrained investigator or detective. Regardless after ascertaining that Summerset’s library does not stock some of the titles that would be considered too risque I have searched the less savoury bookshops of Ladybones Rd and one title in particular draws the eyes. Purportedly it deals with belief systems of Elder Continent denizens and particularly the tigers of the Carnelian Coast.

As felines exhibit intrinsic connection to dreams/mirrors (is there meaningful distinction to be found between the two?) it strikes me that if Carnelian tigers are aware of Salt then that might be the connection to Parabola. Corollary: has anyone theorised how tigers look like in mirrors?

Yet the question remains of Salt’s sovereignty over mirrors. I must admit I am more confused than ever.

Yours faithfully,  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

 

To:  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist

Apologies but I have inconveniently forgotten to add: my Admiralty contact has told me of another officer who might have further information as it appears there are certain factions within the Admiralty more investigatively minded than is usual. She hinted at balance of power between London forces ie. the Masters, the Bazaar, Her Enduring Majesty’s court etcaetera.

It is almost as an afterthought that I think of your bat sighting. Given everything I think perhaps we could put it temporarily to rest and agree to disagree; whether you have witnessed a bat in Irem and whether it was indeed Salt’s messenger or a vision or a trick of light seems trivial in comparison to the sheer degree of conspiracy we seem to be having on our hands don’t you think.

Yours faithfully,  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

 

 _(with fragile humour, a hanged woman’s final crooked smile)_  
To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

My dear of course I am more than happy to put your bruised pride and arguments to rest at least for now (am still not planning on publishing a revised version of the article). Must also admit that you are correct in your estimation: if the Admiralty is aware of Salt and is willing to share and/or trade information then I believe in the interest of scientific fortitude it would behoove us to pursue this investigative course.

Do not take this as an admonition but rather a statement of fact, Summerset College has always scorned esoteric studies, be it the Bazaar or Correspondence (which I have longed believed to be connected to languages of the stars, not Neath’s false stars but rather the true celestial phenomena manifest beyond the Avid Horizon), and it gladdens me to know you have found it in yourself to eschew their dogma.

I have spoken to a Meticulous Deviless from Infernal Rarefactions and she has given me access to several more titles that might be of interest. I have divided the list by half and have attached it so we may cover a wider breadth of information between us. I am not certain whether she can be trusted but her information seems genuine.

If you are amenable we could meet at the Singing Mandrake for discussion and perhaps more. I do miss you with a rather humiliating passion; I miss your laugh.

Have you had dreams?

Yours,  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist

 

 _(a mild teetering anxiety: pages filled with script that is so very precise it is defensive, a pen reassuring itself of its own grip on sanity)_  
To:  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist

It was kind of you to extend an invitation and since you have said the words first I feel I might admit to you as well that I missed your voice & presence & laugh also. Sincerest apologies if I have not been pleasant enough company as our research is frankly driving me to distraction. So many questions etcaetera.

In fact I have been having dreams to be precise I have been having a single type of dream since reading that treatise on the spaces behind mirrors you have found. Have always considered Parabola a largely irrelevant piece of shared madness, a folie à plusieurs if you will since “travellers” commonly report overuse of prisoner’s honey and/or laudanum and/or both.

Regardless in the dream I am in the land behind mirrors and it is unspeakable. Dread fills my body at the memory: a landscape so alien and so strange, so removed from our understanding of physical reality, so uncaring of what we consider scientific principle. A tiger guides me and warns me of snakes which are not snakes but rather very vicious rulers of the land behind mirrors. Small as fingers but powerful as kings. How ludicrous it sounds when I describe it! Yet it keeps me awake by gaslight, putting off the inevitable descent into fear and delirium. The colours are so vibrant they are poisonous and there are vines, and there are ruins, and usually upon entrance I wake.

You have been to Irem so I assume you have travelled behind dreams. Is that in any way similar to this. I must admit a certain level of apprehension. What is the connection between Parabola & Salt & is it wise to ask. But of course we are women of science and it is in our nature to ask.

Perhaps we could meet again and discuss this in person. I have come into possession of information which I am wary to enclose here in writing as it regards the M_____s. May be esoteric drivel but we shall see.

Yours faithfully,  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

 

To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

Yes of course yes I would so adore to see you again. Even if your information proves false/irrelevant then it is better to be safe than risk exposure of any kind. As you know some ideas are too radical even for Benthic College and I imagine the standard of acceptable deviation from prevailing dogma is far steeper for you.

The Singing Mandrake again perhaps? I am certain its typical fare of spies will be too busy out-manoeuvring each other to pose a threat.

Yrs  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist

 

 _(script tilted, hurrying of the page, furtive and fretful)_  
To:  
The Narcoleptic Astrometrist

Without preamble: as we have planned I dedicated the past week to further research into Salt’s connection to Parabola and the matter of which we have spoken. I do miss you when you are not here and of course a part of me longs to deflect such an intimate admission with a jibe, since it is easy to joke about Benthic: but I feel as though a great chasm has opened before me and I must take a leap of faith and the simple truth is that your intellect and dedication and wondrous wondrous penmanship are such that I cannot bring myself to soil the sentiment with jests.

If the M_____s are what you are theorising them to be and if the B____r is in fact cast from the same material as the dream-filaments of celestial bodies: WHY is it in the Neath. It must be hiding but from WHAT. Further mention in the forbidden texts that leave me grasping at straws: what are the Stone Pigs, what are Judgements, surely not earthly powers? If London is another in a sequence of stolen cities then what is their purpose, and why has neither of our parent institutions delved into the topic etcetera. What do you think happened to previous scholars such as us? We must tread with immeasurable care my dear.

This is so much larger than bats. I have come into contact with that member of the Admiralty of whom I have spoken to you who represents a faction that has done a similar investigation to ours; she speaks of a sequence or rather a Sequence. She speaks of light and of a Dawn. A machine to bring light into the Neath and expose the B____r.

I must go now. I have not attended a single lecture in weeks.

Please know that you are no less dear to me than my own life.

The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

 

To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

As you asked I have not sought you out but please please do let me know whether you are well so I may rest easy.

I have torn the incriminating paragraphs from your letter and kept only your admission. I keep it under my pillow and in the light of gaslamps take it out and read it over, again and again. You are dear to me as well: you have shown me a passion I had not known and doubt I ever will again without you. If that passion surpasses academic divisions then so be it. Yes yes you are more dear to me than my work and my studies and this mad venture. I hesitate to use the word of which we are both certainly thinking. But know that I do, I do, I do.

Please write when it is safe to do so.

N.A.

 

 _(with urgent desperation)_  
To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

I do not know where you live as all my letters are delivered to your faculty. I have come to Summerset College but your colleagues have informed me you have not attended office hours or lectures in a fortnight.

If it is a remnant of our disagreement then very well: I was wrong. I was so very wrong. I have seen Salt’s messenger soaring above the lightless void of the Unterzee and I think now it was an omen and that omen was death.

Please write please please I beg you.

N.A.

 

To:  
The Weary Chiroprerochronologist

I have booked passage to Irem. If this letter finds you well then wait for me, my love: I shall return and if you are indeed in the place behind mirrors then I shall set fire to the dreams that are the Fingerkings’ domain and then I shall wrench you back into the dark comfort of the Neath where Salt and Salt’s curses and omens will not touch us again. The Elder Continent will welcome us and shelter us from the wrath of the Bazaar and its false prophets and the Judgements’ light.

My love I will save you.

 

_(a month later: telegram delivered to the faculty of subterranean false-astronomy, benthic college, unopened and unwitnessed)_

THEY HAVE INTERCEPTED LETTERS STOP SETTING OFF TO PORT CARNELIAN STOP KNOW EVERYTHING KNOW WHOLE TRUTH DO NOT TRUST THEIR LIES STOP DO NOT LEAVE IREM STOP WILL COME FOR YOU

 

Far above: a zee-bat, creature of light and blindness that has never seen the true face of the sun, spreads its leathery leaf-veined wings and allows the breeze’s current to cradle it and carry it, the cavern of the Neath its womb and domain.

Far below: a zailor calls out. She sees Salt’s messenger and does not yet know how the memory of it will fester with a god’s attention.

Far in the distance: a breeze stirs. It ripples with loving gentleness over the lightless depths of the Unterzee like a lover’s worshipful caress, the water’s surface black as tar even in the dawning light of the mechanical sun to the West, the lethal boiling light of the Mountain in the South that spills forth from its river into mirrors and jungles and an endless echoing void, and at last, at long last the undreamed bruised expanse of the far Eastern horizon that bends time into spiralling future tense of it-is-it-will-it-will-be. We will be.


End file.
